Lanthanide complexes with d-f transition: new emitters for single-emitting-layer white organic light-emitting diodes

Peiyu Fang; Peihao Huo; Liding Wang; Zifeng Zhao; Gang Yu; Yanyi Huang; Zuqiang Bian; Zhiwei Liu

doi:10.1038/s41377-023-01211-5

Lanthanide complexes with d-f transition: new emitters for single-emitting-layer white organic light-emitting diodes

Light Sci Appl. 2023 Jul 7;12(1):170. doi: 10.1038/s41377-023-01211-5.

Authors

Peiyu Fang^#¹, Peihao Huo^#¹, Liding Wang¹, Zifeng Zhao¹, Gang Yu¹, Yanyi Huang¹, Zuqiang Bian¹, Zhiwei Liu²

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China.
² Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China. zwliu@pku.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) is a new generation of lighting technology and has stimulated wide-ranging studies. Despite the advantage of simple device structure, single-emitting-layer WOLEDs (SEL-WOLEDs) still face the challenges of difficult material screening and fine energy level regulation. Herein, we report efficient SEL-WOLEDs with a sky-blue emitting cerium(III) complex Ce-TBO^2Et and an orange-red emitting europium(II) complex Eu(Tp^2Et)₂ as the emitters, showing a maximum external quantum efficiency of 15.9% and Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage coordinates of (0.33, 0.39) at various luminances. Most importantly, the electroluminescence mechanism of direct hole capture and hindered energy transfer between the two emitters facilitate a manageable weight doping concentration of 5% for Eu(Tp^2Et)₂, avoiding the low concentration (<1%) of the low-energy emitter in typical SEL-WOLEDs. Our results indicate that d-f transition emitters may circumvent fine energy level regulation and provide development potential for SEL-WOLEDs.

Abstract

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